Attended a food tasting together with Crystal recently at Fu Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat 福临门豆捞 located at North Canal Road.
Fu Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat 福临门豆捞
Was pretty impressed at my first look of the building where Fu Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat was situated at. Gorgeous facade on the outside and I was looking forward to checking out the restaurant’s interior!
Fu Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat 福临门豆捞
Address: Boat Quay Conservation Area, 16 North Canal Road, 048828
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fulinmendoulao
The first few things that greeted us upon entering was the live seafood tank (an indication that all the seafood here is fresh!) and a huge range of wine / alcoholic beverages!
For $2/pax, you get to choose plenty of condiments and dipping sauces for you to mix with as well as free flow fruits and desserts.
The restaurant takes up 3 storeys of the building and the interior is a fusion of modern and traditional Chinese design. All the seats look really comfortable and well spaced out for privacy – but I guess the main drawing factor is that each diner will get their own individual dou lao pot!
They also offer several VIP suites (good for family gatherings!) that can cater to different sizes and even a large function room with a projector for larger gatherings!
Just sharing some information about the dou lao cuisine:
“The Dou Lao cuisine is widely acknowledged as the “royals” of hot pots in modern China because it focuses on improving one’s health & vitality through food
The term, Dou Lao, is also a play of words, meaning scooping everything – health, wealth and fortune – together.
The fundamental differences set in the use of rare, top-drawer ingredients its broths and the platters of freshly harvested meat, greens and seafood. No processed food, preservatives or chemical additives (like the bubble-removal additive).”
Now let’s take a look at what we enjoyed during the tasting that night! (:
P.s aprons will be provided to avoid any stains on your clothes!
First up, here’s our personal dou lao pot each with the Fu Lin Men’s Signature Golden Imperial broth as our soup base.
It is a Manchu & Han Imperial Feast classic favoured by the royals (especially the females) during the Qing dynasty it is brewed for over 12 hours with fresh red carrot puree, chicken bone marrows, pork shin and thigh with skin and dry-aged cured ham (金华火腿). It is presented with gold flakes on top of the soup.
They have 4 other soup bases available for your selection but I would say that this broth is fantastic! (: Go for the Mala base if you like your base to be spicier though!
P.s spot the gold flake in my soup?!
Fortune Chalice ($38)
The first dish we enjoyed while waiting for the soup to boil was the Fortune Chalice ($38) that came with sea cucumber, abalone and mushroom. It was delicious but it’s pretty expensive at $38 for the serving.
An array of side dishes for us to try as well.
Family Bliss Freshly Handcrafted Dou Lao Meat Balls ($7)
The meatballs flavors are really interesting because they are no ordinary meatballs! Unique flavors include prawn meat ball with golden roe, pork meat ball with water chestnut & white black fungus as well as squid meatball with chocolate! You’ll be surprised at how well they actually taste and we ate them all! Would recommend to order this dish(:
Roars of Success Lion’s Mane Mushroom with Chicken Fillet – $12.00
This was an alright dish, nothing special.
Wild Bamboo Pith with Fresh Prawn Paste – $18.00
Highly recommended dish, the prawn paste was extremely fresh and paired together with the bamboo pith that soaks up the soup taste = perfection! One of my favourites at the tasting(:
Beer Marinated Marbled Beef – $28.00
The beef was really fresh and the marbling was beautiful! Just soak it into the beer to marinate before dipping it into your dou lao pot. Don’t leave it for too long as it cooks pretty fast. Enjoyed it! Would order this (:
Freshly Cultured Sea Prawns with Marbled Beef – $18.00
The presentation was interesting but I find that beef x prawns don’t really go well together in the sense that beef cooks pretty fast but the prawns take a longer time. So by the time the prawn is ready, the beef will be too overcooked for my taste. Prefer the beef and prawns to be separated in my opinion.
Bountiful Blessings of Three Treasures – $28.00 (Morel, Matsutake & Lion’s Mane Mushroom)
I was abit skeptical when I first took a look at this dish as it looked slightly weird. Surprising, I really enjoyed the mushrooms and they tasted great with the broth!
Premier Oxtail – $10.00
The oxtail was not too bad and served to add another element of flavor into my soup!
Fresh Beancurd Pockets with Fresh Seafood Paste – $10.00
This was alright. Seafood as usual was fresh but I’m not a fan of Beancurd however (personally).
Oriental Greens and Wild and Cultivated Mushrooms – $10.00
And of course, you must have some greens in a steamboat! I loved the ones provided by Fu Lin Men as they were really fresh! Oh and spot the cute carrot ingot / coin below, lol.
Some other dishes that were not in the tasting menu and ordered by the chef. Have to give a shout out to the pork (3rd image) because it was excellent! Would recommend it (:
House of Gold Pineapple Glutinous Rice – $9.00
To further whet your appetite, do order the pineapple glutinous rice! I thought it was really tasty though some might find it a tad too sweet. I really liked it though(: Recommend to order!
A view of some of the dishes we tried that night taken by Crystal!
The items on my plate which was never empty, lol.
The premixed sauces that were meant for meat/seafood respectively!
Grand Imperial Premium Bird’s Nest – $28
We ended off the night with 2 items. The first is the Grand Imperial Premium Bird’s Nest – $28! Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations as it wasn’t what I envisioned my birds nest to be like. It’s more like a thick sweetened dessert with coconut and topped with a tiny bit of birds nest. Not worth the price definitely.
By the end of the dinner, your soup broth would be full of nutrients and will taste heavenly. As such, end off the meal by adding the instant noodles and egg. This was highly recommended by Master Chef Nian Shu Jian(:
Overall, Crystal and I had a wonderful experience at Fu Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat that night! We had the opportunity to try out many interesting steamboat dishes and we really like the dou lao concept as well! Think that it’s a great place to book for your upcoming CNY gathering with your family and friends! (:
The hospitality provided by the Master Chef Nian Shu Jian as well as one of the owners, Simon was absolutely wonderful. Servers were attentive and we enjoyed the whole experience(:
Would be back again!
Thank you Fu Lin Men Dou Lao Steamboat for hosting us and Nicole for the lovely invitation!
Note: This was an invited media tasting but all opinions were of my own (:
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Till later,
♥ mitsueki
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